Analysis of the Electromagnetic Field Generated by Deep Brain Stimulation in Patients with Parkinson's Disease

Abstract

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a stimulating therapy currently used to treat the motor disabilities that occur as a result of Parkinson's disease (PD). The mechanism of how DBS treats PD is poorly understood. Currently, there is a paucity of data from in-vivo human studies on the electromagnetic field (EMF) generated within neural tissue by DBS. In this study, the EMF generated by DBS was analyzed at different distances from the stimulating electrodes. Our goal was to examine how the EMF strength changed with distance in the human brain. The resulting analysis demonstrated differences of several orders of magnitude across the distances measured. With further study, we aim to connect the EMF effect on neural structures to the efficacy of DBS treatment.